I am carb cycling, gluten-freeing, and learning to THRIVE especially while dodging fibromyalgia and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Losing weight is tough work for anyone but for a chronic babe like me it really is a matter of WEIGHING HEALTHY choices and finding what works for my body.

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It Was Magic, CI#11

My hubs and I decided to take a drive today. When we left the house we had not decided where to go just that we needed to be gone. Between his knee and ear infection and me spending the majority of my time at home, it was absolutely time to escape.

One of the things fibromyalgia taught me is getting out into nature is very important to my well-being. Before fibro, I never understood how deeply this need runs or how important it is to me.

We headed east. Eventually, a right turn would take my husband down the very same road he drives several times a week. He decided to go straight.

“Do you have your pass to the park?” he asked.

“I do.”

We are blessed to live less than an hour from Zion National Park.

Light thin clouds swirled through the sky. The air was just a few degrees too cool to drive with the windows down but spring will not be long in the desert. Patches of snow dotted only the north sides of the hills and the red mountains looked like sleepy embers glowing in the sun.

My hubs knee was really starting to hurt so instead of taking the long drive through the park we turned off the highway in Rockville toward Grafton, a ghost town destroyed in the late 1800s. All that is left is a tiny cemetery surrounded on two sides by small hills. The original wooden and stone grave markers still stand and a fenced-in area contains the remains of an entire family wiped out by disease. Mounds of dirt still mark where bodies rest. It was sublime and reverent.

Another family was visiting and I found myself envying one of the young men as he said, “This is my great-great grandma.” I wish I knew anything about my family but that is another story for another day.

After our visit, we took the road back toward the fork that would lead us through Smithsonian National Scenic Byway.

It is absolutely my favorite place on the planet. (Sorry for the blurry video…my hubs is technologically in the stone age and when I reviewed it there was too much glare for me to notice…lesson learned…we are both going to have to get better at this before our cruise.)

It is serene and the vistas of the mountains which make up Zion National Park are better than within the park boundaries. It is also where my husband and spent our fourth date. The first time I saw the layers of rock tears came to my eyes. The sun was better that day so the colors really shined but it was still gorgeous today.

We were more than halfway through the scenic drive when the course of the conversation took us talking about that day. What neither of us realized when we left was today is almost the third anniversary of that day. Of course, our drive found a new level of magic.

As we drove along the long, dusty road to the highway a “For Sale” sign just beyond the protected area caught my eye. Five acres at the base of one of the most beautiful mountains I have ever known. We haven’t called on it yet but a girl can dream.All that hopping in and out of the truck to shoot 85 photos…if I could only workout like that everyday. But, my shoes were in the mud, the breeze was on my cheeks, and the sun warmed my hair and for me that is perfection. I am thinking nature walks are going to be a regular feature. There are some gorgeous spaces in my backyard and I would love to share them with you.